Opposites Attract
by Storm Alert
Summary: Byakuya is a priviledged member of the rich upper class of Karakura and one of the richest kids in the elite Seireitei School. Hisana is the dirt-poor scholarship student. They are complete opposites and yet somehow they are pulled together ByaHisa AU
1. Chapter 1

**Hi! Stormy here =)**

**This is the first chapter of this fic and I'm hoping that it works out... The last one didn't really. I still haven't gotten around to finishing it... Oops.**

**Anyways, I hope you like it!**

**If I owned Bleach, Hisana would still be alive. Is she? No. :'( Do I own Bleach? No.**

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><p>Hisana stood with her younger sister Rukia in front of their new school. Both of them were wearing identical looks of wonder and fear. Seireitei School was a school for the very, very rich, not the two dirt-poor sisters. Somehow, both had managed to win a scholarship to the elite school and now both of them were regretting their decision to accept.<p>

Both had heard of the school of course. Growing up in Karakura it was pretty hard not to. The most gorgeous teen members of the city went there and some of the more creepy students would often wait outside of the gates at closing time, just to catch a glimpse of the beautiful girls and handsome boys. A glimpse was the most that any ordinary citizen would ever get and the fact that the two sisters were suddenly going to _join_ the prestigious group was terrifying.

"Come on," Rukia, always the more outgoing of the two, said, grabbing Hisana's hand. "We're already late!" Reluctantly, wishing that she could just turn tail and run, Hisana followed her sister through the threshold of the school. If Rukia hadn't been dragging her, Hisana might have stopped to stare again but despite the fact that she was a year younger, Rukia was much stronger than her.

They stumbled into the office unceremoniously, two tiny, underfed girls in baggy, ragged clothes amongst a sea of shiny floors, crisp outfits and students so beautiful they were nearly unreal. Even the school secretaries were impeccably dressed and stunk of money. The way that they were looked down on made Hisana cringe back and try her very hardest to make herself smaller. However, Rukia was only riled up by the obvious snub and tilted her chin up defiantly. Just as Hisana was certain that there was going to be a very embarrassing scene in the front office a tall lady with a kind smile walked out of an office to their left. Her hair was black and extremely long. For some reason she had pulled the long ebony strands around her neck and braided it down the front. It went all the way to her waist.

"Hello," she said gently. "You must be the Satou sisters."

"Yes Ma'am," Hisana replied quickly before Rukia could say anything. She just _knew_ that her sister would have been rude. Not intentionally of course but she would end up sounding that way to the people around them.

"I'm Miss. Unohana. I'm the school nurse."

She did have a nurse-y look about her, Hisana mused. Maybe it was the smile…

Five minutes later the two were headed in opposite directions to their classes. Miss. Unohana walked with Hisana.

"I'm going that way anyway," she explained. "I might as well make sure that you don't get lost. The school can get confusing sometimes."

"Thank you," Hisana murmured, studying her feet. Talking to people wasn't her strong suit.

When they reached the classroom, Miss Unohana knocked on the door. It was answered several moments later by a slightly ill looking man. Despite his long white hair, he looked quite young, perhaps in his early forties.

"You've got a new student," Miss Unohana told him. "This is Hisana Satou. Hisana, this is Mr. Ukitake." The man smiled at her, his warm gaze catching hers before she could look down.

"It's nice to meet you Hisana," he greeted her. "How about you sit beside Byakuya- that empty desk there." He pointed, but it was really unnecessary. Her designated seat was the only empty desk in the whole room.

Blushing, Hisana made her way to the seat, feeling all eyes fixed on her, judging her. The only person who didn't stare at her was her new seating partner- Byakuya, Mr. Ukitake had called him. He was reading a book and completely ignoring everybody around him. Quietly, Hisana slipped into her new desk and still the boy didn't look up from his book. This gave her the opportunity to study her new seating partner. It only took Hisana a few moments to come to the conclusion that he was handsome, even for a Seireitei student. He had long black hair that was pulled back into a high ponytail. His dark hair contrasted greatly with his pale skin but in a good way not a 'I spend too much time playing video games in the basement' type of paleness.

Hisana was so absorbed with trying to surreptitiously observe the gorgeous boy beside her that she didn't notice that Mr. Ukitake had left the classroom until he came back in and shut the door.

"Sorry about that," he said, with a slightly haggard smile. "Now, where was I?"

Byakuya carefully placed a bookmark in his book and set it down on his desk, long fingers absent-mindedly stroking the cover. It was only once his book had been carefully settled on his desk and Mr. Ukitake had started writing notes on the board again that he looked over at the new girl. It wasn't obvious, because a Kuchiki was never obvious. Despite this, it had been quite simple. All that he had had to do was lean forwards a bit and tilt his head to the side while he copied the notes from the board.

The new girl- Hisana, wasn't it, was small, made to appear even smaller by the way that she hunched her shoulders in and ducked her chin. Between quick, stolen glimpses, Byakuya established that she was quite pretty, although the baggy, ugly sweater that she was wearing wasn't exactly helping her looks. Plus, that strand of hair that feel behind her eyes and frayed out just before it reached the end of her nose was really bothering him. He wanted to push it off of her face. He really wanted to push it off of her face.

Actually, that one strand of hair was bothering him so much that he found it extremely difficult to concentrate for the rest of the lesson. He was certain he would be just fine if he could just push it off of her face! It was like the school bully- Aizen's bitch curl except cuter. Well, obviously it was cuter. The new girl was not only female; she was so much better looking than Aizen would ever be. But still. Why couldn't she just get that hair out of her face? Didn't it tickle?

When the bell rang, Byakuya stood with relief, quickly collected his books and strode out of the room, wishing that the new girl would just _get that damn strand of hair out of her face_. Because if she didn't, the rest of the term would be extremely uncomfortable. He would be continually bothered by urges to touch her hair, which was extremely un-Kuchiki like.

As Byakuya sat down in his desk in his next class, he noticed the new girl walk in and talk to the teacher- Miss Ise. The young woman directed her to a desk and Byakuya barely managed to fight back a groan. Well damn. That girl and her irritating strand of hair were sitting next to him again.

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><p><strong>Review and tell me what you think? Please? It would be really nice of you.<strong>

**-Stormy**


	2. Chapter 2

**Second chapter... Obviously...**

**If I owned Bleach I would be rich and famous. Am a rich? No. Am I famous? Definitely not. Do I own Bleach? Nope.**

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><p>Hisana sat beside Rukia in the school cafeteria at lunch, silently chewing on her soggy sandwich. Of course, the rich kids surrounding her and her sister all had expensive lunches. None of <em>them<em> had one wilted piece of lettuce, an extremely thin slice of cheese and an even thinner slice of ham, encased in soggy bread. Of course, she was perfectly happy with what she had. However, she'd be even happier if everybody else had something like that.

Quietly, she watched the lunchroom drama revolve around her. A little Chinese girl named Soi Fon was chasing a tall, lanky, sandy haired youth in a green and white striped hat around the room, yelling insults at his retreating back. Nobody seemed bothered by this, so Hisana was guessing that it was normal. In fact, only one person watched- a tall, dark skinned, dark haired girl. She was laughing at her friends' (presumably her friends, Hisana didn't know any of them), antics. A group of boys of assorted heights stood near the door. A group of girls were perched on the top of one of the tables. It was just like any normal school at lunchtime, except for the aura of money and class that hung in the air.

Byakuya Kuchiki, who had been sitting beside her for both of her morning classes was sitting alone, reading. His posture was perfect, his face expressionless. He was close to their table, close enough that when the dark skinned girl went over to him, Hisana could hear every single word spoken between the two of them.

"Hey Byakuya!" she grinned at him, bending over to wrap an arm around his neck. She had positioned herself in such a way so that her breasts were shoved into his face. He pushed her away with a frown.

"Go away Yoruichi," he told her, not lifting his eyes from his book.

"Don't be so grumpy. Loosen up a bit."

Byakuya didn't respond. Seemingly frustrated by the boy's lack of interest, Yoruichi tugged at the elastic band holding Byakuya's hair away from his face. The ebony strands tumbled out of the ponytail. Byakuya put his book down.

"Give it back."

"Make me." Yoruichi skipped backwards, holding the hair elastic up. "Come get it if you want it," she teased. Byakuya sighed, took another hair elastic out of his pocket and, with obvious restraint, tied his hair back up in its high ponytail. Then, he picked up his book again and resumed reading.

"How many of those do you have?" Yoruichi asked.

"Many." Once again, Byakuya's eyes didn't leave the pages of the book. Thwarted, Yoruichi scowled and then tossed the hair elastic at him. The bell rang, signalling the end of lunch and Byakuya was out of the cafeteria before anybody else could fully register the fact that their hour of freedom was over.

Slowly, Hisana stood and walked to her locker, wondering what her next class would bring.

The next class was Social Studies, taught by Miss Shirayuki, a beautiful young teacher with long white hair and pale skin. Despite the fact that she was probably the youngest staff member in the entire school, the students respected her the most of all of the teachers that Hisana had met thus far. It only took Hisana five minutes to decide that she liked Miss Shirayuki. Although she was strict, she was also fair and her class wasn't boring.

For this class, surprisingly enough, Hisana wasn't seated next to Byakuya Kuchiki. Instead, she was next to a well endowed girl named Rangiku, who spent most of the class with her head resting on her hand, fast asleep. When Miss Shirayuki caught her, during the last half of the class, Rangiku had her chair stolen and was forced to stand for the rest of the class. With Miss Shirayuki's attention on her, Rangiku didn't manage to get any more sleep that class.

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><p>When Byakuya walked into his second last class of the day, he was surprised that the new girl with the annoying hair wasn't there. Then, he was relieved. Although her hair was really quite irritating, she seemed like a nice girl and he didn't want to be the one to watch her suffer through Science, a class that he completely despised.<p>

First of all, the teacher, Mr. Kurotsuchi, was, put quite frankly, insane. Even if the weird clown mask and headpiece had been taken away, he would still be considered crazy upon first glance. It had something to do with the eyes, Byakuya thought. They were yellow. Not amber, not golden-brown, _yellow_. Added to that, he acted like a mad scientist from the movies, minus the hair. His science experiments usually included one of the students getting injured in some way and honestly, Byakuya couldn't understand why the school hadn't fired him yet.

Despite his obvious faults, however, Mr. Kurotsuchi was a brilliant man. He had made many scientific breakthroughs that benefitted modern society. But he wasn't suited to working in a _school_ full of _children_. And although most of the student body would protest to being called children, none of them were old enough to be around a character such as Mr. Kurotsuchi.

So it was with a large sense of relief that Byakuya exited the classroom when the bell rang, signalling the period's end. It was a great achievement indeed if you escaped Mr. Kurotsuchi's classroom in the same condition as when you walked in.

During the last class, which was Fine Arts with Mr. Kyoraku, Byakuya was the only person in the room willing the clock to go slower. Most of the students wanted school to end so that they could go home or hang out with their friends. Byakuya didn't want to go home and he didn't actually _have_ any friends to hang out with. Kuchikis didn't have friends. They had subordinates or allies or acquaintances but they never, _ever_ had friends. When the bell did ring, as it always did, Byakuya reluctantly collected his books and walked to his locker, all but dragging his feet in his reluctance to go home.

When he finally exited the school, he was confronted by his slightly deranged cousin, Senbonzakura.

"Where've you been?" Senbonzakura demanded. "I've been waiting forever!"

"You've been waiting five minutes," Byakuya replied frostily. "Besides, I can drive myself home. I don't need you to pick me up every day."

"Of course you do! You'd probably crash or something!"

"I'm surprised _you_ don't crash. You're the one who blew up the science room, not me. You're _also_ the one who got drunk that one time and broke all the windows in the school."

"That was an accident. Come _on_."

"Next is a car accident," Byakuya muttered, but he followed anyways. After all, what choice did he have? He didn't have a vehicle of his own and calling his father to pick him up would be far too demeaning. Plus, it was unlikely that his father would ever agree.

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><p><strong>Crappy ending... sorry.<strong>

**Review?**

**-Stormy**


	3. Chapter 3

**WARNING: This chapter contains child abuse. Not graphic, but suggested. If this bothers you, don't read it. There will be some (perhaps slightly more graphic) in later chapters too.**

**This chapter is halfway dedicated to Leaves-in-the-sand. Halfway because she was a wonderful person and gave me a really long review with lots of ideas in it, but she was also mean to me. Lol, love ya Leafy =)**

**If I owned Bleach there would be more ByaHisa flashbacks. Are there? No. Do I own Bleach? No.**

Byakuya sat at the supper table, staring at his empty plate blankly and waiting to be excused. Unfortunately, it was looking to be one of those nights where nothing went right. After getting home, surprisingly uninjured, he had been greeted by both of his parents, an unusual occurrence. Normally his father was at work until late and his mother worked until five, giving him at least two hours of peace after school. Today, however, this was not the case. His mother, a famous fashion designer, greeted him with abnormal enthusiasm as he walked through the door- typically she wanted nothing to do with her fashionably impaired son.

It was only because of this enthusiasm that Byakuya knew that his father- an influential business man who cared even less about his son than his wife, was home. She was only overly cheerful when _he_ was around and although Byakuya wasn't certain of the reason, he could guess.

Escaping to his room was not an option when his father was home and soon, still dressed in the uncomfortable outfit that his mother had picked out for him, Byakuya was standing to attention while his father paced the room, lecturing him. Byakuya had heard this particular lecture so many times that he could recite it on command. Still, he listens like a good Kuchiki child, his gray eyes following his father as the older man strode back and forth across the room. Finally, a half-hour later, Byakuya's father was distracted and Byakuya managed to slip up to his bedroom.

Despite his family's wealth, Byakuya's room had very little in it. A bed was against one wall with a little table beside it. The table sported a digital clock and one book. There was a bookshelf against the opposite wall with all of the books neatly arranged in alphabetical order. There was also a full length mirror by the door. The floor was covered in thick grey carpet and the walls were painted an immaculate white. The blanket on the bed was black, as was the bedside table. In fact, the only colour in the room came from the covers of the books on his bookshelf.

Ignoring the drab, colourlessness of his room, Byakuya flopped inelegantly on the bed and stared at the ceiling. He stayed that way until he was called down for supper by the maid, Sylvia. This brought him to his current, uncomfortable position, waiting for any chance to escape back to his monotonous, boring room. He had homework to finish and was trying to figure out whether or not it would make a good excuse to get away. It was worth a try. What was the worst that could possibly happen?

Later, slowly picking his aching body off of the dining room floor, he remembered the worst that could possibly happen and thanked any deity that may or may not be listening that it hadn't. He limped up to his room, where he made a quick survey of his bodily injuries. They weren't that bad, considering what he had gotten before, but definitely painful enough that he might try to sneak some aspirin from his parent's medicine cabinet that night in order to sleep. Several bruises were spread across his midriff, turning his pale skin into something resembling a painting by a two year old who was only allowed dark shades of paint. If it hadn't been for the fact that it hurt, it might have been pretty actually, with all of the diverse shades of purple and blue. There were also several open gashes on his shoulder blades and welts forming on his back.

With a sigh, Byakuya pulled his shirt back on and began to work through his high pile of homework, wincing every time he moved too abruptly.

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><p>Hisana and Rukia walked home from school together and were greeted by their father, who had lost his job a week before. After receiving their hugs, the two girls ran off to do their homework. Hisana was sitting in the room that she shared with Rukia, glaring at a particularly difficult math problem when her mother got home from her job as a waitress at a local restaurant.<p>

"Hey honey," her mother murmured in her ear, crouching down to hug her. At the age of forty seven, Hisana's mother was still as beautiful as she had been at the age of thirty although her age and the stress of her life was beginning to show in the lines around her eyes and mouth. "How was your first day?"

"Alright," Hisana replied honestly.

"Make any friends?"

"No, not really."

"Well it was only your first day," her mother reassured her.

"I know." Hisana gave her mother a small smile, which was returned quickly. Her mother patted her on the back and left, leaving Hisana with the outrageously difficult math problem.

That night at supper, the four of them sat together at their small, worn kitchen table. The two sisters shared stories about their teachers and their classmates. Rukia told them about some guy named Renji who was also a scholarship student and was, according to her, a decent guy. Hisana told them, slightly reluctantly, about the boy who sat beside her during her first two classes and, with more enthusiasm, about the crazy science teacher, whom she had gotten last block. The atmosphere was friendly and open and despite the fact that they had very little money, all of them were happy.

That night, after finishing the last of her homework, Hisana pulled on her pyjamas- an oversized, well-worn t-shirt that had once been her father's and slipped under the covers. Soon, Rukia crawled onto the top bunk of the bunk bed and the two sisters had a whispered conversation until Hisana drifted off to sleep.

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><p><strong>Hey, look at how a contrasted Byakuya and Hisana's home lives! Did you like that? If yes, please review. If no, review anyways and tell me why. If you're neutral, review!<strong>

_**Please?**_

**-Stormy**


	4. Chapter 4

**If I owned Bleach, the Zanpaku-tos would be in their 'human' forms all the time, not just in Filler arcs. Are they? No. Do I own Bleach? No.**

When Byakuya woke up the next morning, it was in a severely uncomfortable position that did absolutely _nothing_ to help with his various aches and pains. Despite this, he didn't move, dreading what the next day at school would bring. It was a day two and day two meant Phys-ed first period. A full seventy five minutes of their crazy teacher, Mr. Zaraki. In Byakuya's opinion, Mr. Zaraki, like Mr. Kurotsuchi, shouldn't be allowed anywhere _near_ impressionable young people. However, some idiot had decided 'hey, let's put a homicidal maniac in charge of kids for a whole day,' and a whole bunch of other idiots had said 'what a _great_ idea! Let's find some appropriately crazy homicidal maniac right away!' Or… something like that.

Groaning a bit, but knowing that his father would murder him if he were even a second late for school, Byakuya rolled out of bed, shivering as the cold air hit his skin. Quickly, he pulled on a pair of designer jeans that his mother had bought him and a designer sweater that she had also bought him. Actually, Byakuya couldn't find one thing in his entire closet that he'd chosen himself and definitely nothing comfortable. It was all brand-name this and designer that, all chosen for aesthetics, not to keep the wearer warm or comfortable. After quickly pulling a pair of impeccably white socks over his bare feet, Byakuya stumbled out of his room, brushed his teeth and headed out the door without bothering to eat.

He came back in several minutes later to grab his jacket and gloves, pulling the cloth around his slim body as protection against the fierce, bone numbing cold that accompanied the first snow of the season. It was early, but since when was it ever not? Now properly equipped to brave the weather, Byakuya slipped out of the door and locked it behind him. If he was lucky, he might even be able to drive himself to school.

No such luck. As usual, Senbonzakura was waiting in his crappy car. Despite the fact that his body was turning into a human-shaped block of ice, Byakuya didn't get in.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me."

"Aw, come on, get in. You'll be late!"

"After you nearly killed me yesterday? I think not."

"Would you rather walk?"

"I can drive myself."

"Do you have keys?"

Crap. Of course he didn't have keys. His parents didn't trust him with the full control of a vehicle, even though with four of them and only three people in the family, one would think that they could spare it. Beaten, Byakuya crawled into the passenger seat.

"Be careful." He warned, buckling himself in.

"I'm _always_ careful," Senbonzakura quipped, backing out of the driveway.

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><p>Hisana and Rukia walked to school again, both of them wrapped up in coats from the Salvation Army. Both were relieved when they stumbled through the door of the school into the warmth.<p>

"Look at them," Rukia murmured in her sister's ear. Hisana followed the younger girls gaze to see two boys standing in the bitter cold outside. One was very short and had spiky white hair. The other was much taller with a long mane of dark turquoise hair and an X shaped scar across his face. Both boys seemed to be enjoying the cold and neither showed any inclination to come into the warmth.

"I know the younger one," Rukia continued. "His name's Toshiro. I think he's in your grade. He's a child prodigy. The other guy's his brother, I think."

"Aren't they cold?" Hisana murmured, more thinking aloud than really asking a question.

"Dunno."

Hisana shrugged and continued on her way to her locker, frowning. There were a lot of really weird people in this school, she mused, looking at her schedule.

"Oh _suck_," somebody said over her shoulder. "You have gym first period. You poor girl!"

Hisana looked up to see who was talking. The voice sounded vaguely familiar. It was the girl who sat next to her during Social Studies… Rangiku?

"Remember me?" the girl asked cheerfully. Hisana nodded. Rangiku grinned at her. "You should come hang out with us at lunch," she offered. "Get to know the school and all that. Plus, we're pretty fun." After a moment of thought, Hisana remembered which group Rangiku hung out with. She was in the big mixed group of guys and girls. "How about it?"

"Um…" Hisana swallowed. She wasn't used to getting invitations to sit with somebody at lunch, especially not from gorgeous, rich, popular girls.

"Renji's already invited your sister," Rangiku continued, as though trying to guess what the problem was.

"Sure?" Hisana tried. Rangiku seemed nice, in an air-headed sort of way.

"Cool!" Rangiku exclaimed, standing up. "See you then!" she skipped off and Hisana stared at her locker. What was that about?

When she walked into the gym, fully changed and slightly apprehensive at what this supposedly dreaded period was supposed to hold, she found that she knew many of the people there. Yoruichi, Soi Fon and the sandy-haired boy with the green and white hat were standing together near a wall. Yoruichi was laughing and Soi Fon was yelling at the sandy-haired boy, who seemed faintly amused. The boy-prodigy, Toshiro was standing with his brother. He looked irritated, probably annoyed that his brother was treating him like the eleven year old that he was. Byakuya was standing against one wall, looking as though he really, really didn't want to be there. Some of Rangiku's friends- pretty boy, bald guy, the crazy-science teacher's daughter and a red headed, well endowed cat-like girl, were also there. There were several others that Hisana recognized and a many that she didn't.

A man whom she was assuming was their teacher strode into the gym. On his shoulder balanced a little pink-haired girl, no older than four or five.

"Alright all you wimps," the man shouted. "Let's get those legs warmed up! Run ten laps of the gym!" The man had a sort of side-ways Mohawk of pointed chunks of hair and an eye patch covered his right eye. As she ran, Hisana began to wonder if this Mr. Zaraki guy was just as crazy as Mr. Kurotsuchi.

As it turned out, he was even worse.

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><p><strong>What does Kenpachi do to them? Guess you'll have to wait until next chapter =)<strong>

**Review?**

**-Stormy**


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry this took a while... Due to popular demand (Leafy, this is for you) I made the chapter longer. I was aiming for 2000 words but only got to 1600. Oh well, maybe next time...**

**If I owned Bleach they would have to dance. Do they dance? Only Ikkaku. Do I own Bleach? No.**

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><p>Once the students had finished their ten laps, they clustered in a group for protection against their insane teacher. None of them were panting nearly as much as they should have been, and Hisana began to think that the laps at the start of class were a sort of routine torture. <em>Wonderful<em>, she thought. She absolutely despised running.

Their teacher, Mr. Zaraki and the little pink-haired girl on his shoulder surveyed the class for a moment. Mr. Zaraki's eyes rested on Hisana for a moment and she felt a sudden urge to go and hide somewhere. The man turned to the class.

"Alright!" he began. "We are going to be dancing today!"

Everybody groaned.

"Stop whining! I don't want to do this either, but _apparently_ it's in the curriculum."

"Gym has a curriculum?" the bald guy asked. "I didn't know that."

"It does, according to our _wonderful_ school nurse." Quickly, before anybody else could add their objections to the pile (perhaps worried that somebody might trash talk the 'wonderful' school nurse), Mr. Zaraki continued. "Hey, Pretty Boy!"

"What?" Five boys answered, looking up at him quizzically.

"You're not Pretty Boy!" the girl on Mr. Zaraki's shoulder yelled. "He's Pretty Boy!" she explained, pointing at Byakuya. "You," she pointed at one of Rangiku's friends- the one with the feathers on his eyelashes, "are Outrageously Girly Guy."

"I thought that _I_ was Outrageously Girly Guy!" somebody protested.

"No, you're just Girly Guy." The little girl informed him.

"Well then who am I?" somebody else asked.

"You're Kinda-Pretty-Boy. _Duh_."

This went on for a while as everybody had their nicknames sorted out. During the whole thing, Hisana stood at the edge of the group of people. Byakuya stayed far away from everybody, his face perfectly expressionless.

Finally, when the confusion over nicknames had been resolved, Mr. Zaraki started again. "Pretty boy, new girl, partners." Hisana glanced over at her new partner, who looked thoroughly unimpressed. He was giving Mr. Zaraki a murderous glare, although whether it was about the nickname or the choice in partners, Hisana couldn't tell. Unaware of the death glare being sent his way, Mr. Zaraki went around pairing people up. In the end, there were more guys than girls so 'Outrageously Girly Guy' and Baldy ended up paired together. Unlike the other pairs of guys, they didn't seem too angry.

"It's not like we haven't done it before," Baldy said with a shrug, although the meaning of that statement was unclear to Hisana, who didn't know anything about the two of them.

"Come on," Mr. Zaraki yelled at the kids milling around, unwilling to go with the partners that he had chosen for them. "We don't have all day." Nervously, Hisana looked over at Byakuya, who still looked annoyed. After a few moments he walked over to stand at her side, not touching her but close enough that she could feel the chill that seemed to radiate from his body. The guy was like an ice box!

Once all of the teens had (slightly reluctantly) joined their partners, Mr. Zaraki began to teach them a basic waltz. When it was realized that this involved actually _touching_ their partner, the students began complaining again. Mr. Zaraki put an end to this quite quickly.

"What are you, prepubescent children?" he shouted. "Suck it up!"

"What do you mean, 'prepubescent'?" the cat-like girl yelled. "Do these," she cupped her breasts, "look prepubescent to you?"

"Shut up Haineko!" a small girl with long auburn hair pulled into two pigtails told her. "Nobody cares about your boobs!"

"You're just jealous cuz you don't have any!" the cat-like girl, Haineko, replied.

Mr. Zaraki interrupted at that point and both the small girl and Haineko shut up.

They began their awkward dance again. To Hisana's surprise, very few of the students actually knew how to dance. She had thought that that was something that rich people learned. Only Byakuya, Yoruichi, Toshiro and his brother knew how to dance. Beside Byakuya, who moved with the grace of a professional dancer, Hisana felt like a clumsy oaf. She stumbled through the dance, staring at her feet the entire time and wondering whether the whole thing could get any more mortifying.

As it turned out, it could. After merely fifteen minutes of ballroom dancing, Mr. Zaraki directed them into a circle and proclaimed that they were now going to do old country dances to crappy music that nobody liked. Well, he hadn't actually said that, but it was the general gist of his words.

The dances were confusing. The music sucked. Everything was awkward and extremely embarrassing. The whole time, Hisana didn't know where to look. Making eye contact was definitely out- and since she was shorter than most of the guys that she was dancing with, staring straight forwards made it look like she was checking out their abs. Looking down was also a definite no-no. In the end, Hisana settled for staring at a point just to the side of the boy's head. Once that had been decided, she spent the rest of the class wishing that time would move faster.

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><p>Being called 'Pretty Boy' was definitely degrading but it didn't measure up to the rest of the horrors of gym class. Dancing with Hisana was extraordinarily awkward. Although he had known how to dance for as long as he could remember, Byakuya didn't particularly like it. Anything that involved social interaction was a big no-no in his books and dancing not only involved social interaction but also close contact with another person. Added to that the fact that he couldn't help but notice how warm Hisana's hands were and how cute she was when she blushed (which was most of the time), made dancing with her a cruel and unusual punishment.<p>

Then they moved onto the country dancing and Byakuya it only got worse. He knew how to ballroom dance. He wasn't at danger of embarrassing himself there. But he didn't know any of the stupid dances that Mr. Zaraki was forcing on them. They were now switching partners at a rapid rate, which should have relieved him but all that he could think of was how no other girl's hands were as warm or soft as Hisana's had been. This irritated him and he quickly forced himself to think about something- anything else.

The only thing that came to mind instantly was how he had nearly died, _again_ on the ride to school. The low temperatures and snow had made for nasty driving conditions that would have been treacherous for even the best driver. Since Senbonzakura wasn't even a _good_ driver, the ride had been extremely dangerous. Byakuya had spent most of the ride clinging to the edges of the seat with his eyes squeezed shut, hoping that nobody he knew saw him.

As if that weren't enough, once they had arrived at the school, Senbonzakura had skidded sideways into a parking space, nearly taking out a sign, several students and a tree, not to mention the damage that crashing into that huge tree would have done to the passengers themselves. Byakuya had nearly done a face-plant on the ice outside scrambling to safety and it was only when he was in the school that he dared to relax. Relaxing proved to be a bad idea, for the second that the tension and fear had drained out of Byakuya's body, all of his injuries from the night before began screaming at him. Senbonzakura's terrible driving hadn't done much to help the situation and it took all of his Kuchiki-control to keep from limping.

Remembering his near death experience earlier that morning effectively helped Byakuya get through the rest of the class. As usual on similar days, changing proved a challenge but by pressing himself into a corner and changing as fast as was humanly possible, Byakuya avoided the suspicion that the sight of his bruises and cuts would stir in the other boys' minds.

His next class was Social Studies with Miss Shirayuki which he spent pointedly _not_ thinking about the new girl.

_New girl? What new girl? We have a new girl? Since when?_ And so on.

In fact, he was so busy not thinking about the new girl that when the bell rang it startled him. It was only because of his hated Kuchiki training that he didn't jump a foot. Silently, allowing the talk of the newly freed class to wash around him, he packed up his stuff and headed for the lunch room. Then, remembering the fiasco with Yoruichi and his hair elastic the day before, he changed direction and started towards the library.

He ate quickly in the hallway before he stepped into the library's carpeted interior. As usual, Miss Ise was in there, along with several other students. Momo Hinamori was sitting quietly in a corner, more using the book that she was reading as a shield than really reading it. Byakuya knew that she was watching Sosuke Aizen, the school's librarian/evil genius. Despite his obvious evilness and tremendously annoying bitch curl, Momo was obsessed with him. Byakuya didn't understand. The man was obviously a bastard and couldn't care less about his young admirer and yet Momo came to the library every day to stare at him and hope that he noticed her.

Deciding that Momo and her love problems were none of his business, Byakuya slipped behind the tall bookshelves until he wasn't visible from any point of the library except for directly in front of him. There, he sat primly on a chair and opened his book.

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><p><strong>Crappy ending... Sorry.<strong>

**Review?**

**-Stormy**


	6. Chapter 6

**Ugh... This took so long! I'm sorry... I have no excuse. I am an extremely lazy person. Seriously.**

**Anyways, this chapter is dedicated to Leaves-in-the-sand, who kept me motivated with constant text messages, threats and (occasionally) bribes. You can thank her for the length of this chapter, not me (I was going to stop at 1000 words. She said I couldn't)**

**If I owned Bleach I would be an asian guy. I am female and Canadian. Do I own Bleach? Nope.**

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><p>When Hisana stepped into the lunchroom, she was instantly pulled into a suffocating hug by Rangiku, who squealed something indecipherable in her ear and dragged her off to meet the rest of her friends.<p>

'Outrageously Girly Guy' was a boy named Yumichika. The bald boy was Ikkaku. Renji, the boy that Rukia had been talking about the night before, was tall, with crimson hair and tattoos. There were many others- so many that Hisana wondered how even Rangiku could remember all of their names.

"Usually Senbonzakura, Snakey and Chimpette hang with us," Rangiku told her through a mouthful of rice. "But they've got detention today." She gestured towards the kitchen, where several irate looking students were working. Hisana recognized Toshiro's older brother, who, unlike the other students working in the kitchen, didn't look annoyed. A boy in a samurai mask, a well-endowed girl with long, pinkish hair and a little boy with bright pink hair were arguing about something. The argument included a lot of large gestures with frying pans and the like, and much yelling.

Hisana turned her attention back to the people around her. It was so loud in the cafeteria that she was only able to pick up fragments of conversations.

"Five bucks they hook up before January."

"Ten they hook up before December."

"Did you see him driving? I feel sorry for-"

"Hell yeah! I did it!"

"Stop screaming. It's so unbeautiful."

"I don't give a crap about being unbeautiful!"

"Obviously."

"Thank yo- wait a second… _Yumichika_!"

"I'm annoying? _I'm_ annoying? What about you, Miss Self-Centered Bitch?"

"_Baldy_!" this came from the little pink-haired girl, Yachiru, who came flying out of nowhere and landed on top of Ikkaku's head. Ikkaku swore, struggling to dislodge the child's teeth from his scalp.

"Let go of me! Get _off_!"

Yachiru giggled, or as much as somebody could giggle while biting somebody's head and appeared to sink her sharp little teeth even deeper into Ikkaku's skin.

"Ow," Ikkaku moaned, tugging ineffectually at the girl.

"Wimp," Yumichika murmured, a fond note in his light voice.

"I am _not_ a wimp! You try- ow- getting your head bitten by a little bratty child! Ow, ow, ow, _stop it!_"

To Hisana's surprise, nobody was coming to Ikkaku's assistance, not even his (supposedly) best friend, Yumichika, who was just laughing at him.

"Does this happen… often?" Hisana asked Rangiku, who was also laughing at Ikkaku's pain.

"All the time," Rangiku replied flippantly. "It never gets old," she added, grinning. Ikkaku had finally succeeded in getting Yachiru off of his head, but now the small girl was running around the lunchroom, calling out insults. Growling, Ikkaku sprinted after her and chased her around the cafeteria. Several people watching laughed at their antics but didn't give it much attention.

"I'm going to kill you!" Ikkaku yelled. Yachiru just laughed in response and danced away from him.

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><p>In the kitchen, Snakey, Chimpette and Senbonzakura were engaged in a full out war. Currently, Senbonzakura was chasing Chimpette around the cramped quarters, brandishing a frying pan while Snakey lobbed potatoes, apples, and other potentially harmful foods at the samurai's head. Insults were being thrown around the kitchen as well, although they weren't as potentially harmful as Snakey's food-missiles.<p>

The original cause of the argument was unknown, even to Senbonzakura, Snakey and Chimpette. To the bystanders- Hyorinmaru, Haineko, Kazeshini and Wabisuke, the whole thing was nonsense and a cause to be afraid for their lives.

Suddenly, Senbonzakura was hit across the face by a flying orange and stumbled against the stove, knocking something onto the surface. Within seconds, the stove was on fire. Hyorinmaru, Haineko, Kazeshini and Wabisuke fled the kitchen, colliding with each other in their haste to get away from the disaster zone. None of the arguing three seemed to have noticed the chaos ensuing because of their fight and continued to scream at each other. By the time that a teacher came running, alerted by the screams of both rage and fear coming from the kitchen, the whole place was demolished. The top of the stove was burnt beyond recognition, there was food all over the floor, dishes of all sorts were broken, their shattered remains lying on the ground and several other disasters.

As Miss Shirayuki shouted at the three trouble makers, other students at teachers came to see what all the fuss was about. Senbonzakura, Snakey and Chimpette were hauled off to the office to meet with the principal, Mr. Yamamoto, while Hyorinmaru, Haineko, Kazeshini and Wabisuke faded into the background. Hyorinmaru, who didn't have a detention in the first place, he just liked helping out in the kitchen, didn't run the risk of anybody getting angry at him for sneaking away. The others, however, were most likely going to have to serve double time for this.

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><p>Hisana stared at the ruined remains of the kitchen, shocked. She couldn't believe that three people could cause such a mess in such a short period of time.<p>

"They do this all the time," Rangiku explained, grinning. "Hard to believe Senbonzakura and Byakuya are related, hey?"

"They are?" Hisana inquired, interested. It never would have occurred to her. Senbonzakura and Byakuya were polar opposites- one reckless and loud and, to put it bluntly, _insane_ and the other calm, collected and nearly emotionless.

"Yeah, they're cousins. It's easier to see the family resemblance when Senbonzakura takes off the mask."

That was interesting. Hisana glanced towards the doorway, where Byakuya was standing, looking slightly irritated. She felt her cheeks get hot and quickly stared down at the floor. She didn't glance up towards where Byakuya stood for the rest of lunch.

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><p>Byakuya stared at the ruined remains of the kitchen and felt rage bubble in the pit of his stomach. <em>Senbonzakura<em>. Couldn't that idiot just be normal for once? Although, if Byakuya had bothered to think about it harder, he would have realized that he wasn't angry with Senbonzakura, not really. He was angry at the freedom that Senbonzakura was awarded. Nobody would be waiting at home with clenched fists, ready to hit and kick him until he could barely move for the pain. He earned no lectures on a Kuchiki's honour and pride, nor did he have to worry about his image. He was free to do what he wished and the sting of jealousy that stabbed at his heart ever time he viewed his cousin hurt even more than the bruises and welts which covered his slim body.

When the bell rang, Byakuya turned and stalked gracefully (because everything that a Kuchiki did had to be graceful) out of the room, trying unsuccessfully to walk away from his thoughts and leave his feelings- all of them, jealousy, anger, perhaps even the little bit of a crush that he might have on the new girl, in the cafeteria.

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><p>Several weeks passed. The mornings of Day One were always awkward for both Byakuya and Hisana, who didn't exchange more than a few words. Still, Byakuya came to look forwards to those mornings, with Hisana's small body seated beside him, close enough that he could feel her warmth. Occasionally, their hands would brush and both would look away, muttering a shy, uncomfortable apology. Whenever this happened, Hisana would blush. It was completely adorable and, as the days passed Byakuya stopped trying to ignore this, finding that it took far too much effort.<p>

The days continued to get shorter and colder. Byakuya's bruises and welts faded and nearly healed, leaving only a few scars behind, only to be replaced with more.

Then, one day, Hisana didn't show up for school. The seat beside Byakuya in math stayed conspicuously empty and it was only then that he noticed how much he took her presence for granted. It had only taken a few weeks and already he was used to her sitting next to him. For her not to be there was amazingly distracting- even more distracting than it was when she _was_ there. He spent the majority of the period wondering at her absence.

Perhaps, he thought, she had a dentist's appointment or something and would show up for second period.

She didn't.

She wasn't there at lunch either but her sister was. If Byakuya had been anybody else, he might have asked Rukia. However, he was a Kuchiki and Kuchiki's weren't supposed to show an interest in the affairs of commoners. Instead, he sat at a table near where Rangiku's group, of which Rukia was now very much a part of, and eavesdropped inconspicuously. It wasn't _wrong_ if nobody caught him at it, right?

"Hisa's sick," Rukia explained to the majority of the group, who all seemed extremely interested in where their newest, quietest member had gone. "No not that- what do you mean fatally? No, she is _not_ fatally ill. Not at all. Don't be an idiot Ikkaku."

With that information, Byakuya stood and left the cafeteria, escaping to his familiar solace in the library.

However, today it wasn't very peaceful. After he had been there for a mere few minutes, Mr. Kyoraku burst in, looking for his 'lovely Nanao-chan!' As usual, Miss Ise spurned his advances, even going so far as to whack him over the head with her book. Mr. Kyoraku limped out of the room, whimpering in pain and whining at the top of his voice. Then, barely ten minutes later Mr. Zaraki burst in, stormed into one of the sections and searched through the books, muttering something under his breath. Apparently not finding what he was looking for, he stomped out. When Mr. Kurotsuchi entered the library, Byakuya made a hasty exit and spent the rest of the lunch period crammed in a desolate corner of the school, trying to look as dignified as possible in case somebody happened to wander by.

The end of the day was significantly better. Because of Senbonzakura's constant accidents, in or out of the car, Byakuya's father had allowed Byakuya to drive himself to school using one of the family's many unused cars. As an added bonus, when Byakuya arrived at home, he found that his father had a meeting and his mother had a party and that neither of them would be home until much, much later. Byakuya celebrated this by stealing some Aspirin out of his parents' medicine cabinet. He also got to eat his supper in thankful peace, without having to worry about perfect posture or holding the cutlery the correct way or any of that other bullshit that only seemed to worry rich people.

For once in his life, his evening was better than the day at school.

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><p>When Hisana returned to school two days later, still feeling like crap, she was greeted eagerly by all of her new friends. Rangiku nearly suffocated her with her boobs, a traumatic experience that made Hisana feel sorry for Toshiro, who was subjected to that torture nearly daily. As far as she could tell, Rangiku only did it because she knew that it pissed him off.<p>

For the first time in her life, Hisana didn't dread math first period. Actually, she was looking forwards to it. Although the subject was boring and she _hated _it, her seating companion was quite enjoyable. Hisana had found herself studying him during class. He had the most gorgeous hands that she had ever seen in her life. They were pale with long, delicate fingers. As she watched out of the corner of her eye, the sleeve of Byakuya's shirt fell back momentarily, revealing an ugly, dark bruise around his arm. It was shaped like a hand, as though somebody had grabbed him far too tightly. But, even as this registered in her mind, Byakuya had tugged his sleeve back down and it was hidden again. Hisana frowned and tried to concentrate on the class, which proved to be quite difficult.

Although they weren't actually touching, Hisana could feel the chill of his body next to her. He never seemed to be warm. It was like sitting next to an ice block. Today, however, she was quite grateful for this. She was still a bit feverish and being next to his cold body felt nice. Was that weird? She had a feeling that it was.

The day passed rather uneventfully. Near the end of the day Rukia asked Hisana, slightly shyly, if it was alright if she went out with Renji somewhere and did Hisana mind walking home alone? Even though Hisana assured her that she didn't mind in the least, she dread walking home in the cold all alone. It was bad enough with Rukia hurrying along beside her. It would be unbearable alone. Hisana stood at the entrance to the school, staring out the window at the swirling snow. It looked _cold_. Really cold.

She knew that she should get a move on, but she didn't want to step outside into the snow, ice and bitter, freezing cold. There were footsteps behind her, light and agile-sounding. She waited for them to pass her and whoever it was to pass her and go out into the chill. Instead, they stopped just behind her. There was silence for a moment.

"Would you like a ride?" Byakuya asked tentatively.

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><p><strong>If any of this is inaccuratestupid sounding/horrible, I apologize. The only crush I've ever had was in Grade One and that only lasted a day, since I found out that the guy was a literer. So... I've only got my friend's feelings to go by, not my own in this type of situation. Oh, and books of course. I've got that too. Too bad I only read fantasy...**

**Anyways, how about you review and tell me what you think? I'll appreciate it!**

**-Stormy**


	7. Chapter 7

**This took me forever... I'm sorry! Mainly, it was because I am a horribly lazy person with wonderfully developed procrastination skills but there was a bit of homework and other stuff in there too.**

**One of my many distractions was seeing Cats live! It was amazing and wonderful and if you ever get a chance, you should totally go see it! You can also buy the DVD but it isn't as good...**

**Anyways, if I owned Bleach, I would not still be in school. I would also be Japanese. Am I still in school? Yes. Am I Japanese? No. Do I own Bleach? No.**

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><p>Hisana's first instinct was to say yes but common sense pushed that down. After all, she barely knew Byakuya. Still, what harm could he do?<p>

Horror stories told by her parents when she was younger reminded her _exactly_ what harm he could do. But somehow she couldn't see quiet, emotionless Byakuya Kuchiki performing any of those deeds all young children were warned about time and time again. But, once again, she barely knew him.

Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Rangiku.

"Uh, Rangiku and I already agreed to hang out after school. Thanks though!" Unable to meet Byakuya's cool, gray eyes, she sprinted out the door, catching up with Rangiku just as the other girl reached her little car.

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><p>Hisana had been lying. He knew that. Although it was perfectly reasonable, it still left a sting in his chest, something quite unfamiliar to him. Shaking it off and telling himself that he shouldn't care, he pushed open the school door. Although he avoided looking directly at Hisana, in his peripheral vision he could see her get into Rangiku's car. At least she would get a ride home. That was the important part. Despite this, he still couldn't help feeling disappointed and slightly hurt.<p>

As was usual, the only people in the house when he arrived were the staff. They all avoided him, going out of their way to be in a different room than he was at all times. This was normal and expected. Even though he didn't like it, Byakuya knew exactly why they did so and didn't allow it to bother him. If he worked for somebody as malicious as his father, he would avoid his employer's son at all costs as well. As things were, he would avoid himself if it had been physically possible.

With a sigh, Byakuya dropped his bag onto his bed and flopped down next to it. All that he wanted to do was slip away into sleep but his eyes remained open, staring at the smooth, white surface of his ceiling. When the sound of the door slamming shut and his mother's musical voice floated up the stairs, he stood quickly. By the time that his mother knocked on his bedroom door, he was sitting at his desk, his homework open in front of him as though he had been there ever since he got home.

He needn't have bothered. His mother barely spared him a glance when she entered his room, instead holding up some outfit and exclaiming in a fake sounding voice. Off-handedly, Byakuya wondered if it were possible to get plastic surgery done to one's voice. If it were, he would bet anything that his mother had. She hung the clothes up in his closet and left. Once the door had been closed behind her, Byakuya allowed his head to rest on the surface of his desk. He didn't want new clothes! The last thing that he wanted was new clothes! He wanted a mother that gave him hugs and fussed over him before he went to school in the morning. He wanted a father who asked him how his day was and played baseball with him in the backyard. He wanted a cousin who wasn't completely insane. He wanted _friends_!

Instead, he got designer clothes and a new car. He got housekeepers and exquisite food. That was all fine and well but he would trade all of it in for one true friend, or a single caring family member. Even a slightly compassionate next door neighbour would do. But no. Growling softly under his breath, Byakuya stood and began pacing the room, elegant hands curled into tight fists. He wanted to hit something. He wanted to scream at the top of his lungs. But that would end badly for him. Instead, he stormed as quietly as possible around his room for a few moments before going back to his homework and actually _doing_ it this time.

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><p>When Hisana explained to Rangiku exactly <em>why<em> she had ran up to her randomly and asked desperately for a ride home, the other girl gave her an incredulous look.

"You said _no_?" Rangiku exclaimed. "_Why_?"

"I don't know him! Would you say yes to a ride home from somebody you barely know?"

"If it were Byakuya Kuchiki I would!" Rangiku shook her head at Hisana. "Listen. He doesn't talk to anybody unless they speak to him first. He doesn't say more than one sentence to anybody unless he has to. He doesn't sit with other people, he doesn't choose partners in gym, and he never, _ever_ offers rides. Never. Obviously he likes you. Next time he asks, you say yes! You are so lucky!"

Hisana sighed and allowed her head to rest against the back of the seat. "I don't _feel_ lucky," she grumbled. "That was the most awkward thing _ever_!"

"'Cuz you said no," Rangiku pointed out. "Duh." Then, perhaps getting bored with the topic, or maybe sensing Hisana's discomfort, Rangiku changed the topic.

At home that night, Hisana completed her large pile of homework with minimal interruptions, but her heart wasn't really in it. Was Rangiku right? Had she really been lucky? Did Byakuya really like her? Or was he just a naturally charitable person who hadn't ever offered a ride to anybody because everybody at the elite school had their own car? Although the former was much more to her liking, the latter was much likelier to be true. _Concentrate Hisana,_ she scolded herself. _You have three days worth of homework to complete for tomorrow. So start working!_ After giving herself that strict talking to, she was able to keep her mind (more or less) on her school work.

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><p><strong>... Yeah. Once again, sorry it was so late (and most likely terribly crappy)<strong>

**Review anyways?**

**-Stormy**


	8. Chapter 8

**I know last time I said that I wouldn't take this long again. Um... Sorry.**

**In my defense, I was going to get it done the Tuesday after a posted chapter 7, but then word crashed twice and I lost all of my work and gave up. Then, through a combination of procrastination and business, I didn't get around to writing the chapter until today... I know I fail.**

**If I owned Bleach, I wouldn't be writing extraordinarily fanfics about it.**

**This is dedicated to Leaves-in-the-Sand, because she gave me the idea for the first half. Love ya, Stormy =)**

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><p>Hisana's days returned to their normal, monotonous routine. Nothing more was said about Byakuya offering her a ride, although she'd had to bully, beg and eventually bribe Rangiku into keeping quiet. She didn't want rumours spread around the school, which would surely happen if Rangiku were left to her own devices.<p>

Unbeknownst to her, however, rumours were spreading all the same. The other students were noticing the unusual little kindnesses he afforded to her, such as holding open doors and pulling out her chair in the classes they shared. Hisana didn't make as much a fuss out of all of this as the rest of the students did. To her, Byakuya was merely being polite. That was what Kuchiki's were supposed to be, right? Polite?

Hisana was the type of person who refused to believe that another person was anything but indifferent towards her unless directly told so by the person themselves (and sometimes not even then). This behaviour annoyed many people, including Rukia, who commented on it often. Despite this, Hisana didn't change her views. She didn't think that she was really worth noticing. Why would anybody care about her? Why should anybody be anything but indifferent towards her? So while the rest of the student population were gossiping about Byakuya's obvious attraction towards Hisana, she remained ignorant.

This wasn't to say that she remained ignorant of Byakuya, however. Quite the opposite, actually. During the classes that they sat beside each other, she could practically feel the chill radiating off his icy skin- he always seemed to be cold, although he was far too noble to shiver. If their eyes met, she would look away almost immediately, struggling to quell the flush that rose to her cheeks. She reprimanded herself often for acting like a lovestruck maiden from a romance novel. But the truth was she was far too shy to meet Byakuya's steel gray gaze or actually attempt to speak with him. All that she could manage was a small, nervous smile directed towards his shoes, or, on a good day, his shoulder and a very quietly spoken 'thank you' after a moment of kindness from the boy.

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><p>Byakuya might have started a conversation with Hisana if he hadn't been in mortal fear of his father finding out that he was attracted to a poor, common girl. He might have done a lot of things if he weren't afraid of his father. He despised himself for his cowardice but bruises from moderate beatings kept him from doing anything about it. At least if he despised himself, he was still alive.<p>

So he kept his distance, limiting himself to only the smallest kindnesses and silently wishing a sudden heart attack upon his father. Since he wasn't Kira and he didn't own a Death Note (**obligatory Death Note reference**), his father didn't fall down dead. This failure didn't keep him from wishing, however. Did that make him a horrible person? Perhaps. He didn't feel guilty about it though. That probably also made him a horrible person but he didn't care.

Nothing would have changed between Byakuya and Hisana if they hadn't been paired together for an English project. At first, this was extremely awkward. Both spent their time studiously not looking at the other and neither spoke past the initial splitting of roles. Eventually however, they had to get together to finish the project, which posed several problems.

Byakuya didn't want Hisana to come to his house, mainly because of what his father might do to him, or, even worse, her. Hisana didn't want Byakuya over at her house because it was small, slightly grimy despite their best efforts and all in all extremely embarrassing, especially since Byakuya's family was richer than rich.

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><p>In the end, they decided on the library and met there early Saturday morning. They worked in silence for a bit, neither wanting to be the first to start a conversation. It was only when an elderly lady sat down next to Byakuya that any words were spoken at their table.<p>

Byakuya looked slightly startled, but regained his composure quickly. However, when the old lady leaned in close to him and casually slung her arm around his shoulders, even he wasn't able to keep his face expressionless. Hisana was having a hard time with it too, although she was trying not to laugh. Her smile faded quickly, however, when the lady leaned in and spoke in a low whisper.

"You two make such a cute couple," she confided with a smirk. "The way you look at each other when you think the other isn't looking? _Adorable_."

"Thank you?" Hisana managed, stuck between being completely mortified or slightly amused.

"Will you invite me to your wedding?" the old lady asked. Byakuya and Hisana exchanged a look, realized what they were doing and quickly looked away. Without waiting for an answer, the lady quickly changed topic. "I got my eyes done today."

"Oh?" Byakuya said politely.

"Yeah. They shoved a great big needle into my eye and injected it with something that's supposed to stop it from bleeding at the back."

Hisana bit her lip, wondering if she looked quite as green as she felt. Judging from the look on Byakuya's face, she did.

"And then they sent me away and I don't have to go again for another month. I get my feet done tomorrow."

"Do they shove a needle into your feet too?" Hisana had to ask, even though she wasn't quite sure if she wanted to know the answer.

"Oh no. They just scrape off all the calluses and stuff. Do you want to see my calluses?"

"No!" both Byakuya and Hisana exclaimed at the exact same time.

"Thank you," Byakuya added, ever the gentleman.

"Are you sure?" the woman asked hopefully. "They're all yellow and cracked. It's quite a sight."

"We'll pass this time, thanks," Hisana declined, hoping that her disgust didn't come through in her voice.

"Shame. Oh, there's my daughter. She's pregnant." the woman pointed to a haggard looking woman in her mid-thirties. She was quite obviously pregnant. "I hope it's a girl," she continued. "She's already had three boys. That's enough boys."

Hisana made a noncommittal sound while Byakuya stared fixedly at his hands. Hisana couldn't tell whether he was trying not to laugh, or cry. Maybe a bit of both.

"I'd best be going. Don't want to keep her waiting." With those final words, the lady wandered off, leaving Byakuya and Hisana struggling to look at anything but each other. After a moment, Hisana placed her head on the table, shoulders shaking.

"Are you laughing or crying?" Byakuya inquired.

"The second I figure that out, I'll let you know," Hisana assured him, her voice slightly muffled.

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><p>Byakuya pressed both hands over his mouth, trying his hardest to keep from bursting out laughing. Kuchikis didn't laugh, he reminded himself. They never laughed. Never.<p>

Still, the effort that it took to keep his face still was killing him. _Deep breaths,_ he told himself sternly. _Just take deep breaths._ He pressed his fingers to his lips and was surprised to find a smile there. Apparently the deep breaths weren't working. Damn.

After some effort, he managed to restore his face back to its normal, stoic expression. Shortly after that, Hisana lifted her head off of the table.

"Well?" he asked, fighting to keep his laughter out of his voice. He must have failed horrifically, if her look of wry amusement was anything to judge by.

"Laughing," she told him. He nodded.

"Good."

There was an awkward pause in which both of them simply stared at each other before Byakuya found the nerve to say what had been on his mind most of the morning.

"Would you like to go get lunch?"

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><p><strong>I know that the line breaks make no sense, but I'm too tired to fix it. You are smart people. I'm sure you'll figure it out.<strong>

**BTW, I've actually had a similar experience with an old lady. Several, actually... I was always alone though, so there wasn't the extra awkwardness of having somebody sitting next to me... Still awkward though.**

**I apologize for the incredibly crappy chapter... I'll try to make the next one better (and update sooner). But, as you've probably already learned, don't take anything I say to heart. Especially when it comes to update times.**

**-Stormy**


	9. Chapter 9

**I am a horrible person. Feel free to hate me forever. Actually, don't hate me _forever_. That would be kind of depressing. Hopefully this chapter is good enough to make up for the long wait.**

**It took so long because I didn't know how to describe the date. As I've said, I've never gone on a date before so I'm completely hopeless at an even slightly accurate explanation... So sorry.**

**If I owned Bleach, the important chapters would be late, and the unimportant, fluffy stuff would make up the majority of the series.**

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><p>This first date, if it could be called a date at all, was extremely awkward. Neither spoke nor ate, instead choosing to avert their gazes, Byakuya in the most dignified way possible, Hisana just trying not to be too obvious. However, somehow this uncomfortable encounter led to other dates, each getting progressively less awkward, until Byakuya was actually smiling a little and the two were talking like there wasn't a huge difference between their social classes.<p>

Their first kiss occurred behind the school, while fluffy snowflakes danced around them and silenced the world. Hisana went home giddy, unable to sit still for longer than a few moments. Byakuya, too, felt as though he could fly. He did a much better job of hiding it, however, only sitting and smiling dreamily when he was absolutely certain that nobody could see him. He kept a photograph of Hisana beside his bed, which, given the fact that his father was very opposed to cross-class relationships, was not a good idea.

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><p>One late winter day, several weeks after the first kiss, Byakuya arrived home as he always did. The house was empty, absent of even staff, which was unusual. Still, he thought nothing of it. They all had families, after all. Perhaps a family emergency had pulled them away, or maybe there was a holiday that he wasn't aware of. It wouldn't be the first time that he had missed a commoner holiday, simply because he knew nothing of it. He headed up the stairs to his room, step relatively pain-free. His father hadn't been home much for the past month, so his previous injuries had had a chance to heal with no new ones being inflicted. Pushing open his bedroom door, he was greeted with his father's tall, formidable figure.<p>

"What is this?" his father snapped. Byakuya, not expecting the unwanted intrusion on his privacy, nearly screamed.

"A photograph," he replied, slightly breathless. _Oh, shit._

"Don't try to be funny," his father hissed, grabbing his arm tightly and dragging him into the room. "This," he brandished the picture, "is a photograph of a vile, _common_ girl."

"She's not vile," Byakuya muttered.

"Care to say that a bit louder?" his father asked, his voice dangerously quiet. Byakuya ignored the warning.

"She's not vile," he yelled, jerking away from his father.

"She's common," his father corrected, grabbing his arm again, holding it even tighter. Byakuya could nearly feel the bone being compressed, imagined his father's handprint squished into it like it were play-dough. "Imagine my surprise when whispers, rumours reach my ears. Rumours that my son has been _dating _a common girl. I rushed straight home to prove them false and I found this." He brandished the photograph. "I thought that I had taught you better. So of course I thought that there could be a perfectly innocent reason that my son had a picture of this... creature. A new-found interest in yearbook club, perhaps? So I checked your phone records, and guess what I found. You have been speaking to this Hisana Satou rather too much for there to be a perfectly innocent reason."

"So what?" Byakuya retorted. "So I like a girl. She's nice. In fact, I like her plenty more than I ever liked you."

His father shook his head. "What are we going to do with you? She's poisoned your brain."

"If anybody's poison, it's you! You're the vile, disgusting creature. I hate you."

"Hate me all you wish, it makes no difference to me. Just follow my rules."

"I won't." This act of defiance took all of Byakuya's courage to voice and the first time it came out slightly shakily. He swallowed and repeated himself, louder and steadier this time. "I _won't_." His father's eyes narrowed.

Byakuya didn't even know what had hit him. One moment he was boldly confronting his father, the next he was lying on the ground with a savage pain tearing through his stomach. The pain didn't go away. More followed, sharp at first then dulling away as more kept coming. _He's kicking me!_ Byakuya realized. _Don't just lay there. Do something. Stand up, fight him!_ He couldn't stand. He couldn't move. The pain just kept going on and on. Soon, he slipped out of consciousness, only to wake again to find that the beating was still going on. How long would it take for him to die, he wondered.

Sometime, what seemed like hours later, the beating stopped. His father walked away, heavy footsteps fading away as he left and Byakuya lay still. Each breath was a struggle. Biting his lip to keep from moaning, or screaming, maybe, he slowly tried to push himself into a sitting position. This hurt indescribably, and he passed out again. The rest of the night continued in this same manner, drifting in and out of consciousness, unable to move, trapped in his own private hell. His father had dropped the photograph on the ground and, noticing it, Byakuya slowly, over the course of several sessions of moving and fainting, moving and fainting, managed to grab it.

After that, he lay still, clutching the photo in his thin, pale hands. When morning came, dragging the pale winter sun in through the window, he listened dully to the sounds of his parents getting ready for work. Later, when the morning light was stronger, his alarm clock went off and he made a last, futile effort to stand. Then, failing that, he just lay there, listening to the alarm clock beeping incessantly. A while later, after the alarm clock had beeped so many times that he had lost count, the staff entered the house. There were footsteps on the stairs. Sylvia, he thought, the sound of her coming up the stairs was now a familiar one to him. There was a hesitant knock at his door. Then it was pushed open slowly. It made no sound, his father would never tolerate creaky doors so if it hadn't been for the fact that it bumped against his feet, he wouldn't have known that it had been opened.

Somebody shrieked, no, not somebody, Sylvia shrieked, and the last thing he heard before he completely lost consciousness for what seemed like the last time was her panicked voice, asking for an ambulance.

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><p>Hisana sat in Mr. Ukitake's class, silently worrying. The seat beside her was empty and cold. Where was Byakuya? He had been there yesterday, he had been <em>fine<em> yesterday. He hadn't been ill in the slightest. Had something happened? She stared desperately at the classroom door, as though just by looking at it she could force him to walk through. But the door stayed shut, and the longer it stayed shut, more awful scenarios flooded her mind.

Maybe he had been in a car crash, or contracted a sudden, rare disease, or had a heart attack and died. Maybe he had had a stroke and was lying helpless in his room, waiting for somebody to find him. Perhaps he had cancer and just hadn't told her and he was now dying in the hospital. He was certainly thin and pale enough for that. But he hadn't lost his hair. She could be quite certain that he wasn't wearing a wig but maybe he hadn't had chemo, and cancer patients didn't lose their hair if they didn't have chemo, right? She wasn't sure.

Where was he? Where _was_ he?

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><p><strong>Please don't hate me too much...<strong>

**I'll try to get this next chapter up sooner...**

**Please review, even though I'm a horrible person.**

**-Stormy**


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